Peshmerga units in northern Iraq remain on guard against members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

From Tuz Khurmatu, a village southeast of Kirkuk, to the frontlines of Bashiqa near Mosul, progress against the armed group has been slow, despite the support of the international coalition and the Iraqi army. Even when villages are recaptured, they are found to be riddled with improvised explosives, presenting serious hazards to liberating troops.

When it is quiet on the frontlines, soldiers pass their time by watching TV and holding shooting contests. They watch the shelling in the distance, attempting to scout their enemy's movements through binoculars.

They have hunkered down for a long war.

This view through binoculars shows the ISIL-held village of Nasr, near Makhmour in Iraq's Kurdish region. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

This Peshmerga outpost is in Bashiqa, around 15km from the outskirts of Mosul. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Peshmerga soldiers scout out ISIL positions after short clashes at the Bashiqa frontline. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Members of a special Peshmerga unit stand at their positions behind a concrete wall during clashes in the town of Tuz Khurmatu. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

A flare rises over the Peshmerga positions in Bashiqa. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]

Peshmerga soldiers look out from atop a trench after detecting strange movements in the no-man's land near Makhmour. [Manu Brabo/MEMO/Al Jazeera]